A tree in the forest

If a tree falls in the forest, without a human ear to hear it, does it make a sound?

No, it does not.

A human experience is required for a sound to exist. Without a human experience, there is only a potential for a sound, in fact, there are infinite potential sounds.

A human experiencing is what converts potential energy into kinetic energy, potential experience into actual experience. Without a human experiencing, there is not even a tree, or a dog, or a bird, or a world, there are only infinite potentials for trees and dogs and birds and worlds.

When a human experiences, a potential experience becomes a real experience, a potential sound becomes a sound, a potential world becomes a whole complex world full of the real kinetic experiences of all humans experiencing.

Zen

There is a well-known story of Hui-neng, a well-respected Buddhist monk who later became known as the founder of the Zen school, who one day happened to be passing by two monks.

"Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. One said, "The flag moves." The other said, "The wind moves." They argued back and forth but could not agree.
The Sixth Ancestor said, "Gentlemen! It is not the wind that moves; it is not the flag that moves; it is your mind that moves." The two monks were struck with awe."
- The Mumonkan Case 29, translation by Robert Aitken

Tags

this is good

ThisIsGood

HigherMind

HigherThought

Comments

Si says👍

Mark de LA saysProve it!

Si saysJust like with potential energy verses kinetic energy, the proof is right there to be observed. You ask for proof. All proof comes to you as an experience, a set of modalities, which you recognize as something to believe.

The first step in observing this truth is to begin to notice what you actually experience compared to what you make up as if it is experience. For instance, learn to separate the actual experience of hearing a tree fall from the one where you actually experience an already fallen tree and make up in your imagination a movie or sequence about how it must have fallen, and made a noise. When you become skilled at being able to tell actual experiential reality from made up reality, then you will be ready for the next step of the proof. This is not me proving anything to you … you will prove it all to yourself. I can only show you how to use your mind to discover these things on your own … for your own private knowing.

So practice. Learn to tell the difference between actual reality, made up reality, and reality told to you by others. Learn how each of these feel, and how each of them act inside you to connect your current experience with your next experience. Watch and learn, using your emotions as a guide. Soon you will be able to tell the differences without having to think about them. It will be intuition. In that state, you will be experiencing higher thinking and you will come to know this state as one where you no longer think mainly in modalities, but more often in simple direct knowing. While in this state, observing the above will be a simple act and easily self-proved … as simple as observing the difference between a ball ready to fall, and a ball now falling, potential energy verses kinetic energy. By the same means, you can come to recognize potential thought, verses kinetic thought, probability of reality happening verses actual reality experienced .